A scant six days before the election, a number of women have come forward to say that Arnold Schwarzenegger groped them or otherwise committed improprieties of personal etiquette. As with similar charges against Bill Clinton, we really don't know how true the charges are…and it almost doesn't matter. Those who are already politically committed to the accused give him the benefit of the doubt. Those who are already opposed to the guy insist every allegation is as good as substantiated fact. Arnold gave a non-specific apology which I suppose will enable women who were already going to vote for him to feel more comfortable with their choice, and everyone's weighing in on what, if anything, it all means.
The discussions I read today seemed to be missing a thought that occurs to me, which is that this isn't so much an issue of sex as the other great aphrodisiac, which is power. Obviously, a man who makes unwanted contact with a woman is a boor and maybe even a criminal. But when we talk about a potential elected official doing these things, the salient issue may not be Abuse of Women but Abuse of Power.
There are plenty of illegal and/or immoral things we might like to do but don't because we fear the consequences. Even a person devoid of personal ethics can be smart enough to behave because he doesn't want to be arrested or sued or slapped or even scolded. But suppose we remove the possible penalty. Suppose you could do it and there's little or no chance of you being punished. To refrain out of simple human decency in that situation would be a greater display of character.
Years ago on a show I wrote, I walked in on the make-up and hair people exchanging war stories and cautioning one another about certain Big Stars. Generally speaking — exceptions are rare — such crew members are in a position of total vulnerability. If they clash with the star…well, it's a lot easier to get another hairdresser than another star. It doesn't happen often but sometimes, the star decides to be an asshole for the same reason dogs lick their genitals: Because they can. Groping people is one offense but there are plenty of others and, nine times out of ten, the abused person has to just take it. They know that if the star points at them and says, "Either that person goes or I go," they go. That day, I heard one make-up lady tell a horrible story of sexual harassment verging on rape, committed by a Very Famous Actor who knew damn well there was nothing she could do about it.
Later that very day, I saw another Very Famous Actor fondling this lady and asking her unwanted questions about her sex life. She did her best to daub make-up on his face without getting felt and strained to divert the conversation into professional areas. But the V.F.A. knew he could get away with it so he was going to get away with it. Later, I saw him screaming at male crew members, ordering them about and obviously enjoying their subservience and the fact that they couldn't answer him back. It wasn't that this man had a problem with women. He had a problem with not being answerable; of having no concept of decency for the sake of decency.
I'm not suggesting any of this applies to Mr. Schwarzenegger. I have no idea what kind of governor he might make. (So far, the biggest gripe I have about him is that I don't think any of his supporters do, either.) I just thought I'd throw out the idea that when the issue of a politician or candidate supposedly mistreating women pops up, it may not just be a sex thing. It may be that like too many rich and famous folks, they've come to feel that they have some sort of cosmic Get Out Of Jail Free card. Hubert Humphrey once said that the moral test of a government was in how they treat the sick, the needy and the handicapped. I think the moral test of a Big Person may lie in how they treat the Little People. And in whether they behave like human beings even when it's not absolutely required of them.
